The Ancient Greeks said "gnothi seauton", translated "know thyself", and sometimes expanded to:
"Know thyself - and thou shall know all the mysteries of the gods and of the universe."
Well, I don't know about that but what I do know is that knowing one's self comes before learning to love others. When I see myself as I am, with all my good and all my brokenness and inadequacies and I learn to love myself in spite of myself; then, and only then, can I begin to love others as the Unbroken Father loves me.
But if I will not see myself as the broken man that I am then I will continue to only love others for what they can offer me. I will find that I have wasted my life looking for another and another and another who is worthy of love as I think I am.
Jesus, the Master Teacher, put it this way, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22
Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
What kind of love is this?
"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
-Jesus of Nazareth-
(The Mountain Sermon)
Whenever I hear a speaker begin to give a sermon or teaching about the "The Sermon on the Mount", I must confess that I'm a bit prejudiced against it. I mean, The Sermon on the Mount is from the Master Teacher. How can you add to or improve that?
In my opinion The Mountain Sermon is mystical. It is full of mystery and it is meant to be read or recited and contemplated. The Mountain Sermon contains enough challenging sayings to provide a lifetime of contemplation and life change.
With that said, I will attempt to publicly record my contemplation of the love sayings recorded above.
The question of love is not, "What's in it for me?"; it's not Covey's question, "What's in it for us?"; and it's not even, "What's in it for the other person?". Love acts out of being, not because of an expected result. Jesus of Nazareth calls us to a kind of godliness that will cause us to be loving toward the ones who will never love us in return. He calls us to exhibit kindness to those on whom it will be "wasted". He asks us to treat as a neighbor those who will abuse us, misuse us, beat us, and curse us and hang us on a tree. The Nazarene calls us to pour out love simply because it is being like the Father is.
Maybe I don't want to be a mystic any more. It reminds be of another "M" word... martyr.
-Jesus of Nazareth-
(The Mountain Sermon)
Whenever I hear a speaker begin to give a sermon or teaching about the "The Sermon on the Mount", I must confess that I'm a bit prejudiced against it. I mean, The Sermon on the Mount is from the Master Teacher. How can you add to or improve that?
In my opinion The Mountain Sermon is mystical. It is full of mystery and it is meant to be read or recited and contemplated. The Mountain Sermon contains enough challenging sayings to provide a lifetime of contemplation and life change.
With that said, I will attempt to publicly record my contemplation of the love sayings recorded above.
The question of love is not, "What's in it for me?"; it's not Covey's question, "What's in it for us?"; and it's not even, "What's in it for the other person?". Love acts out of being, not because of an expected result. Jesus of Nazareth calls us to a kind of godliness that will cause us to be loving toward the ones who will never love us in return. He calls us to exhibit kindness to those on whom it will be "wasted". He asks us to treat as a neighbor those who will abuse us, misuse us, beat us, and curse us and hang us on a tree. The Nazarene calls us to pour out love simply because it is being like the Father is.
Maybe I don't want to be a mystic any more. It reminds be of another "M" word... martyr.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
